Swami Vivekananda reaches Chicago

Compiled by Sindya N. Bhanoo

July 2015

July 30, 1893 - Swami
Vivekananda arrives in
Chicago before speaking
at the Parliament of the
World’s Religions in September
1893, where he
represented India and Hinduism.
His famous speech
began with the words
“Sisters and brothers
of America.” These five
words received a two-minute
standing ovation from
the crowd of 7,000, as they
captured his universality
towards all humans as one
family. Vivekananda further
illustrated tolerance
of all religions and acceptance of all religions as true, by
quoting this hymn from his childhood: “As the different
streams having their sources in different places all mingle
their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which
men take through different tendencies, various though
they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.”

[Sindya N. Bhanoo writes the Observatory column in the Science section of The New York Times. She is also a board member of South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA), from where this column is sourced. https://www.saadigitalarchive.org/.]

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